Ron Gostick

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Ronald Gostick (July 18, 1918 - July 16, 2005) was a figure in the self-described "freedom movement" in Canada. He was founder of the Canadian League of Rights^[1]. Gostick through the CLR published the periodicals Canadian Intelligence Service and On Target!^[2].

He was born in Wales and in 1919 moved to Canada with his parents. They established a farm near Stettler, Alberta before moving to Calgary in 1928. From 1933 to 1935, he attended Crescent Heights High School and was influenced by the school's principal, William Aberhart, who was a proponent of the social credit movement in Alberta. Gostick and his family became members of the Alberta Social Credit League. His mother, Edith Gostick, was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial election that brought Social Credit to power making Aberhardt Premier of Alberta. She would remain the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary until 1940.

Ron Gostick entered the Canadian Army in 1941 and fought in World War II. After demobilization, he worked as a court reporter in Ontario and also served as general secretary of the Social Credit Party of Canada, the less successful federal counterpart of Aberhardt's Alberta Social Credit. In the 1945 federal election, he ran as the Social Credit candidate in the Ontario ridng of Grey North, coming in last place with 250 votes.

He also began his publishing activities at the same time, beginning to issue Canadian Intelligence Service in 1947. David Lethbridge, Director ^[3], of The Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies,^[4] in a small circulation article claims the periodical is critical of Jews and progressives.

In the early 1950s, Gostick was a public speaker at meetings sponsored by Gerald Smith and Wesley Swift (who later founded the Christian Identity movement). Gostick founded the Canadian Anti-Communist League. The CACL became the Christian Action Movement and later in 1967 became the "Canadian League of Rights".

Academic Stanley Barrett, who studies race and ethnicity in Canada, suggested that the CLR had 10,000 members at its peak.

Ron Gostick was a mentor to Paul Fromm and an associate of Patrick Walsh, a fellow traveller who worked as research director at the CLR.

Gostick died of cancer at the age of 87.

[edit] References

^ [1] Toronto Now December 14, 2000, retrieved May 28, 2006.
^ [2] Jew-haters and red-baiters: The Canadian League of Rights, February 2, 1999, retrieved May 28, 2006.
^ [3] David Lethbridge, a Communist Party candidate, frequently dissembled against others on free speech issues.
^ [4] The Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies, proclaims it's aims are to "combat and defeat contemporary fascism," views capitalism as breeding racism and fascism.